


Blazing Talent

by TricksterNag1to



Category: Gregory Horror Show
Genre: Burning alive, Childhood Trauma, I'll write the description tommrow, Platonic Relationships, Singing, Spoilers for Season Two, We didn't start the fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-20 00:47:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3630414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TricksterNag1to/pseuds/TricksterNag1to
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sound of knocking sounded from outside Fritz’s door, followed by a quiet call of his name. Hesitantly, a small girl (or perhaps a trophy; her entire figure shone in the dimly lit hall with a metallic, bronze glint) stood before the wooden barrier. She looked up anxiously as it swung open.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Smiles and Songs

The sound of knocking sounded from outside Fritz’s door, followed by a quiet call of his name. Hesitantly, a small girl (or perhaps a trophy; her entire figure shone in the dimly lit hall with a metallic, bronze glint) stood before the wooden barrier. She looked up anxiously as it swung open.

“Well, now, what are you doing up so late?” the doctor asked, placing a hand on the child’s chin with a gentle smile on his face. It was about three o’clock in the morning, and the souls of fireflies had just began to cluster around the old, tattered hotel.

The child, named Lost Talent (appropriately so, due to her lack of talent towards anything and supposedly everything) found herself crying, tears pricking at her eyes, only to rust at her already-chipping bronze cheeks. “I-I had a nightmare..” Talent whispered, grabbing his comparatively large hand with her own.

Fritz’s eyes widened behind his glasses, and he retracted his hand. “Oh, my…” he muttered, before stepping out of the doorway for her. “I’m terribly sorry. Come in, Ta-lent.”

After stepping through the doorway, slowly, the tiny trophy found herself crying into the doctor’s waist, her tinny voice being choked by tears and sobs. “I keep having nightmares about f-fires and stuff, again…” she whined, pressing her head against the other’s shirt. “And... And after what Mummy Dog said, I can’t sleep…” She trailed off, lacking the strength to continue.

“What?” Fritz asked, narrowing his eyebrows in confusion. He knelt down, staring at her in a concerned manner. “What did Roger say to you?”

“He said that Miss Catherine is gonna do something about fire, and… and I’m a-afraid of fire! Wh-what if I melt?” she squeaked, her voice cracking and being a bit muffled due to the thick fabric of the doctor’s coat.

“It’s alright,” Fritz muttered reassuringly, rubbing the girl’s smooth, metal shoulders.

“You needn’t worry about such silly things; the likelihood of something like that happening are slim, so you shouldn’t waste your thoughts dwelling upon whether or not they ever will.” He gave her another comforting grin. “I promise.”

 

For a moment, Talent was silent. Then, with her wet eyes wide and full of tears, she asked looked up, and asked something that’d been running through her subconscious all night.

“Wha...What about you?”

The doctor stared back at her, surprised by such a question. “Me? No, no, no,” he chided, “You shouldn’t be so worked up over that. I’ll be just fine, Tally.” He pressed his stitched lips against her cool forehead, muttering as he pulled back.

“I’m right here for you.” He slipped his arms around her, picking her up and carrying her trembling frame over to one of the cots in the room. Gently laying her down, he asked in a soft voice, “Now, I think you ought to get some sleep.”

The little trophy sniffled and nodded, rubbing the rust from her cheeks. “But… Are you sure? I don’t want you to leave, dad…”

**  
“Of course, Tally.”**


	2. Flame Consumption

Flames seemed to gush like liquid from the windows of the hotel, as guests were screaming, screaming loudly as the fire consumed them. Only a few had managed to make it outside, and among them, coughing into his coat sleeve, was a patched together doctor. On his other arm was Mummy Dog, who was anxiously pulling at him in the direction of the burning structure.

“F-F-Fritz!!” shouted the oblivious canine, as he continued trying to free himself from the other’s grip.

Fritz ignored the other’s pleas, still moving forward. “Come on, Max-well, the flames will only make your condition worse.”

“B-But, my daddy is in the k-kitchen!!” Mummy Dog cried out, whining as he struggled against his grip. “Please, let me go get him!!”

“I know, but-”

A thought suddenly occurred to the man. His head whirled around, back to the source of the scent of burning wood that plagued the air. The thought was one of the sorts that hits you like a brick wall at first, and then slowly begins to fill your body with a dread of the most immense and unnerving fear that you could possibly imagine.

_Where’s Talent?_

“Max-well,” Fritz pulled the terrified child closer, looking him dead in the eyes. “Where is Ta-lent?”

“Dad…” was all that followed, coupled with a worried glance back at the hotel. Behind the dog, Cactus Girl was carrying a limp Roulette Boy in her arms, while shouting for her brother. The scene of despair before him did nothing to quell the sense of alarm growing in his mind, nor the apprehension filling his stomach like a dead weight.

_Something is not right. I have to go back._

“Listen to me,” Fritz said, holding Mummy Dog’s shoulders tightly, “I need you to stay right here. I have to go back.”

“B-But, my dad-!! Why can’t I go with you?!”

“I know, I know what I said.” Fritz bit his lip, not wanting the other to go back inside, and risk getting hurt. “But please, just do what I ask of you.”

Mummy Dog choked back a few sobs, nodding. “O-Okay…”

Turning back, the doctor ran in the direction of the hotel, fully intent on putting his life at stake. Just as he was about to step into the fire, however, an ash-covered and wheezing Cactus Gunman fell out of the front door, his legs carrying him away from the danger of the flames. He kneeled on the ground just as he escaped, a few metres away from the door, and Fritz paused for a moment, wondering if he needed help.

“S-Señ-or Fri-itz…?” Gunman managed, regaining his breath as he stood up. “What are you doing?! Get away from this place!!”

The doctor shook his head, disregarding him entirely, “Your sister is looking for you. She managed to get Spinne- I mean, Roulette Boy, out. I’m not sure if he’s alright, however-”

“ _You_ are the one that is not going to be alright!!” said the cactus-man, his eyes widening as Fritz began to run towards the building. Trying to think logically, he lurched forward, grabbing him from around the neck and restraining him.

“L-Let go!!!”

“Absolutely not! Are you _wanting_ to die?!”

“ _Unhand me this instant!!_ ” Fritz began to strain against Cactus Gunman’s hold on him, his voice cracking as he felt the fear begin to wash over him. He knew that he needed to get into the building, _now_. That poor girl was probably alone, and terrified; he knew quite well about her fear of fire.

“You’re out of your mind!! We have no time for this, we have to go, now!!” Gunman shouted incredulously, unable to think of any reason why he’d need to go back. Anyone left in there was surely dead by this point, he reasoned.

Tears now began to spill from Fritz’s eyes, streaming down his face as the bright glow of the fire  was reflected in his glasses. “T-T-Ta-l-lent…”

He had no further strength to continue fighting against Cactus Gunman, and shuddered, his hands unsteady as they reached up to wipe behind his glasses.

“Big brother!!”

Back inside the building, a girl made of bronze wandered the halls, cheeks stained with rust and her voice quavering as she searched through the burning rooms. She could feel the metal melting from her skin, and it felt as though all her nightmares had finally come true.

The only difference was that now, despite his promises, Fritz was nowhere to be found. And she felt oh, so alone, in this burning world around her.

“D-Daaaaad!!” Her voice broke off, tapering into a fit of sobs. She shrieked as a flame licked her elbow, leaving a nasty mark against her once-smooth and shiny frame. “Dad, I-I don’t know how to treat bu-urns yet… Please, come help…!!”

No matter how loud she yelled, her voice continued to be swallowed up by the roar of the fire, and the screams of those who were unsuccessful in escaping. She realized that there was nothing left to do; no one was coming for her.

This was it.

This was the end.

She stopped wandering, and sat down in the middle of a hallway. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she took a shaky breath. And then, she began to sing.

"You are my Talent, and you are my Fritz... Together we are just'a bunch of b-bits... But since we're together, forever, me and you, we can fix people up, with an… ‘I-I love you...’"

A deep breath, and she felt the flames consume her.

"And together, we aren't talentless!"

Back outside, Fritz lay collapsed on the ground, unconsolable. The Cactus siblings stood behind him, wanting to get him up, but neither of them wanting to try disrupting him in such a state. Both of them looked up, as the sound of creaking and cracking filled the air. Fritz must have become aware of it, too, as he looked up to see what was happening.

**Helpless, all the outside spectators watched the building finally collapse.**


	3. After the fact

Outside the burning building with all of the inhabitants inside were clutching each other and crying, some shaking or throwing themselves into the flames, Dr. Fritz sat behind a tombstone and watched the place he once called home burn, watching the sparks wander with the lost souls to Death. He sighed, tears fogging up his glasses. Everything he loved was gone. The one place he called home was gone. Behind his large, thick glasses he noticed Gregory walking around with his stupid little candle in one of his hands before he stopped in front of the doctor.

"Hello Doctor Fritz." the rat smiled, negativity dripping off of his whiskers like a fine syrup. "How about something to lift our spirits, eh?" the innkeeper inquired before sitting down. Fritz could feel the tears rushing down his face. He had gotten some burns on his stitching, his scrub and his hair was partially gone, but that didn't matter. The fire seemed to burn his way of finding words as his old boss put his free arm around the small doctor's shoulder.

 _"Happy Birthday, to you. Happy Birthday, to you. Happy Birthday dear Fritz... Happy Birthday to you._ "

The rat hummed, moving his small candle to the beat of the song with a small grin on his face, exposing his burnt and crispy skin while Fritz cried harder with his voice cracking and becoming an eruption of sobs.

 

He knew he would lose something in the fire.

He just didn't mean to lose his talent.


End file.
